SOLVED 2001 2.7L 4x4 MT Shifter Issue (I think)

2001 2.7L 4x4 MT 162k mi

Think my shifter bushing or seat bushing is blown as it popped out of 3rd twice last night. Thought 4th wasn’t as notchy as usual this week, but didn’t think much of it.

Called dealer asking for shifter seat bushing and they said I need to buy the whole plate? ($130) Hopefully it has a new seat bushing.

1-2 feels great. 3rd popped out a couple times, but will stay in gear, 4th doesn’t have a “notchy feel” but stays in gear.

Apparently b&m doesn’t make a short shifter for the 2.7L which would fix this problem.

Any input?

 

Welcome to the forum!
Check Marlin Crawler for the parts you need.

I have replaced many shifter bushings and seats over the years

Do this cheap fix first you might get lucky.

 

that dealer is nuts. You can buy the bushing from Toyota. Or get the Marlin Crawler shifter seat bushing, different material that won't degrade and break apart with age

 

Then maybe just lazy! Really can`t be bothered looking up parts that old.

Most dealer parts people looking up parts for 20 year old vehicles unless you have trained them mine took about a year to get up to speed .

 

Thanks everyone for the input.

Picked up the shifter bushing today from the dealer. The base plate should come with upper seat bushing and lower base plate gasket… we’ll see what comes in later this week. Also ordered a new breather as mine may be clogged.

Got the singular seat bushing OEM off Amazon.

Will update later this week when I investigate and install. Hopeful it’s not a blown 3rd gear.

 

I'm sure it's just worn shifter seat + bushing, you have to try pretty hard to kill one of these Toyota manual transmissions

 

I have a feeling trans should be good, it’s been strong so far… It’s my gut feeling it might be the shifter because 4th was weird shifting wise a few days before 3rd gave me trouble.

Will update in 2 days. Y’all are awesome and respond very quickly.

 

It does effect how things were taken care of.

I needed bearing kits in 2 transmissions mostly from just neglect .

 

Update, how in the world do you push the locking collar down?

 

takes some good pressure. I used a pair of pliers I think.

 

Strong fingers and hand strength .

lubrication helps

 

Update: Trans is not blown, thank god ‍

*My recommendation: If possible, save yourself the time and effort by pulling both baseplate/shifter off of the transmission. You’ll have a much easier time cleaning and reassembling.*

The culprit: The upper green half of my old seat bushing was fucked to pieces, so the locking collar was sort of jammed in place.

Spent at least an hour shaking, digging and pressing on the shifter till it gave way enough to turn/separate from the base plate.

Shifter bushing itself was fine besides being a little discolored, seat bushing was a goner. Greased new shifter bushing/seat bushing and reinstalled. There is an OEM paper gasket for this application, I opted for the paper gasket instead of going the RTV route like some do.

Aftermath: Trans doesn’t pop out of 3rd now.
Every gear feels slightly more notchy than before, especially 2nd.
Overall slight improvement of “smoothness” between all gears, but still not as smooth as my 2wd lowered frontier lol.
The on and off throttle torque jerk has been reduced, but that might just be in my head.

TL;DR locking collar was indeed stuck, use a OEM paper gasket if taking off base plate, my trans is not blown.

Afterthought: Wild how the smallest part crippled the most reliable truck on the planet.

Thanks for playing. Appreciated all the help I got from y’all. Catch me next week on “The law of car maintenance: it’s easier for everyone else, but once you have to do it, it’s nowhere as easy”

Edit: Brand new OEM base plate did come with seat bushing, but did not come with required trans air breather and paper gasket just an fyi.

 

"Every five minute project is one broken bolt away from a three day ordeal."